Rant on my history class

I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m actually really mad. The only reason I’m crying is because everybody takes me as a little boy, nobody would expect me to be mad. Also, if I did show I was mad, my teacher would probably destroy me. I’m mad because everybody takes my work as a joke, none of it is being taken seriously. I can’t do anything my own way (not even my writing), everything has to be done my teacher’s way. My teacher’s way is fu**ing stupid. She wants me to study every single extra minute I have. Polly, I have a life y’know! And because I study so much, I’m supposed to be able to write it out on a piece of paper word for word. That’s bullsh**. It’s completely against what the program at my school teaches. And because I don’t do everything exactly her way, I get treated like the losers who don’t study at all.

I do study.

I have a typed document of every thing we’ve learnt so far, every day I read that document. I’ve even recorded myself reading it so that I can hear it where ever I go. Also, in class, I copy out the full document, word for word with a pencil to memorize it.

4 responses

I know that I am butting in here on a blog obviously intended for an entirely different generation and culture than my own, but I hope you will forgive me and take this bit of encouragement and advice from an old broad (most likely old enough to be your grandmother) as it is intended:

1. Teachers are human beings. This means that they are not always rational or fair or unbiased.

2. Neither teacher’s comments nor grades are the most important thing in life – nor even close to it.

3. What matters most (as it relates to school) is whether or not you have learned anything. Only you can really answer that question each day and by the time you are an adult and look back at your school days, most likely you will realize that you learned even more than you realized – about the subjects you studied, about people, about how the world works, and about yourself.

4. While it is indefensible for any teacher to treat any student in a disrespectful manner, it happens more often than educators like to admit.

5. Some rules that teachers set (like bosses in adult life) may seem completely nonsensical and arbitrary. Sometimes they are in fact nonsensical and arbitrary. But since teachers are the ones standing at the front of the class, they have the power to set such rules. It is good that you are not afraid to question those rules as this means you are an intelligent, independent person. What will be even better for you is to keep those questions in the back of your mind in your list of “things I won’t do when I’m grown up” but in the meantime, follow the rules as best as you can and remember that you won’t be in that class or subjected to that teacher’s whims forever.

6. Most important of all though is whether YOU respect yourself; whether YOU give yourself credit for your honest efforts; whether YOU acknowledge and learn from your mistakes; and whether YOU continue to challenge yourself to be the best and smartest YOU that you can be. If you can say “Yes” to all that, then RELAX, you’re gonna make it and be a credit to your family and a blessing to the world.

Argh, for some reason I lost my entire comment then, so I’ll abridge it :<

I agree with your first comment completely; but the second one I have to add something into. Awesomebananadancer seemed to be ranting about his teacher's treatment of him, rather than about the marks or comments he got. I agree that those marks are worth less than nothing, but that wasn't the context he was writing about.

It also seems (I use seems here often as I have not had the experiences awesomebananadancer has had) that he hasn't really learned anything important. To be honest, the reason History is optional (I think his History is an extra-curricular course on musical history) is because we don't really need to know those things. The things we really do need to know are how to cope with notes, notes and more notes, how to cope with tests, tests, and more tests, and how to cope with increasing anger (sometimes). It seems that he's ranting because his teacher's only taught him those facts, and not about the actual skills you need to be successful (or more so) in life.

Fourth, I actually don't think the teacher's treating him in a disrespectful manner, but merely wants him to succeed. It's impossible not to be harsh if that happens. I'm in another musical class (not HistorY), where the teacher forces this 10-year-old to write everything exactly as she wants to. He got 96 on his exam. The fact is true that some teachers treat their students disrespectfully; nevertheless, I believe we'll have to wait for awesomebananadancer to finish writing his rant after he's done burning up (is that a phrase?).

I completely agree with the fifth and sixth points, and even more so that those nonsensical rules will probably have to be followed for the rest of your life; be it in school, university, work, or even after retirement (taxes D: ).

On a side note (also, I forgot to mention this but this post was not supposed to be published today, poor management skills on my behalf), how did you actually discover this blog? I'm assuming you don't search "angry rants made by some kid about school" on the internet.